• Office of the Minority Leader Edcel C. Lagman
• 13 June 2011
• 09189120137 / 09166406737

LAGMAN: NON-MUSLIM OIC AN ABERRATION

        The appointment of a non-Muslim officer in charge of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will drive the final nail in the coffin of decimated autonomy in ARMM.

         The opinion of the COMELEC qualifying a non-Muslim OIC is an aberration worse than postponement of the ARMM elections.

         While the Organic Act establishing ARMM and its previous amendments do not require a religious or ethnic qualification for the principal executive and legislative officials of ARMM, neither do these enactments contemplate non-Muslim stewards of ARMM.

         In fact, appointive officials were not contemplated by the prior enactments because the Constitution mandates under Section 18 of Article X that the “organic act shall define the basic structure of government for the region (Autonomous Regions) consisting of the executive department and legislative assembly, both of which shall be elective and representative of the constituent political units.”

         Moreover, no ethnic or religious qualification was imposed because this would have been a surplusage since it stands to reality and reason that no non-Muslim can ever be popularly elected to head ARMM.

         Consequently, whether elective or appointive, the leadership of ARMM is reserved to Muslims to underscore and uphold autonomy.